AFP 2010 Pictures of the Year

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 A Haitian family, trying to leave the city, prepare to board a boat January 19, 2010 in the harbor of Port-au-Prince. Thousands of residents have fled the city in recent days, saying they were tired of sleeping in the street, afraid of being robbed by ruthless gangs, or simply fearful that new powerful aftershocks might destroy buildings that still remain standing.

OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Photo made on January 7, 2010 shows an armed Somali pirate along the coastline while the Greek cargo ship, MV Filitsa, is seen anchored just off the shores of Hobyo town in northeastern Somalia where its being held by pirates. A six-nation east African regional bloc on February 1, 2010 urged Somalia's two breakaway regions of Puntland and Somaliland to jointly battle Islamist militia which it said had extended to the areas.MOHAMED DAHIR
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Indian Sikh devotees spray perfume on the Palki Sahib which carries The Guru Garnth Sahib (Holy Book of Sikhs) in a procession from the Golden Temple to Sri Akal Takhat Sahib in Amritsar late March 1, 2010, on the occasion of Hola Mohalla. Hola Mohalla or Hola Mahalla or simply Hola is a Sikh festival which originated in the time of Guru Gobind Singh who held the first mock fighting event at Anandpur in February 1701, which on the first of the lunar month of Chet which usually falls in March following the Hindu festival of Holi. During the three day festival, mock battles, exhibitions, display of weapons are held followed by kirtan, music and poetry competitions. Nihang Sikh 'warriors' perform Gatka (mock encounters with real weapons), and other feats including tent pegging and bareback horse-riding.NARINDER NANU
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 A layer of fog floats into Victoria harbour in Hong Kong late on March 15, 2010. Warm humid air from the south mixed with a cold front from neighbouring Guangdong province in mainland China to the north has produced patches of fog across the territory over the past few days.RICHARD A. BROOKS
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 A snowboarder flies through the center ring of the Olympic Rings, triggering an explosion of snow and ice off the rings at BC Place during the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver on February 12, 2010.MICHAEL KAPPELER
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Penitents take part in the "Fusionadas" brotherhood procession during the Holy Week in Malaga on March 31, 2010. Christian believers around the world mark the Holy Week of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.JORGE GUERRERO
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Pakistani acid attack survivor Naziran Bibi adjusts her scarf as she poses for a photograph at the Acid Survivors Foundation in Islamabad on January 5, 2010. Twenty three year-old Naziran Bibi, the mother of two daughters Haseena, (5), and Alishba, (3), was forced by her mother-in-law to become the second wife of her brother-in-law after her first husband died. Treated badly by her second husband and his first wife, acid was thrown on her face and torso by an unknown attacker whilst she was sleeping.BEHROUZ MEHRI
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Kyrgyz riot policemen try to protect themselves during clashes with opposition supporters demonstrating against the government in Bishkek on April 7, 2010. Opposition followers killed Kyrgyzstan's interior minister, took the deputy prime minister hostage and captured state television in a deadly revolt on April 7 against President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. A source in the office of Interior Minister Moldomus Kongantiyev revealed that he had been killed in riots in the northwest hub of Talas where the first protests had erupted.VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 US marines with 1/3 Charlie Company give first aid to Lance Corporal Kris Mottley (21) from Pensylvania as they wait for a MEDEVAC helicopter to evacuate him after his MRAP was hit by an IED in Trikh Nawar on the North Eastern outskirts of Marjah on February 23, 2010. Three Improvised Explosive Devices (IED)s exploded injuring three marines while Charlie Company was clearing a 4 km stretch of road between Lashkar Gah and Marjah. The Helmand assault by 15,000 US troops, dubbed Operation Mushtarak -- meaning "together" in the Dari Persian dialect spoken in Afghanistan -- aims to push the Taliban out of the Marjah and Nad Ali areas under their control.PATRICK BAZ
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 US President Barack Obama (L) and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Prague on April 8, 2010. Obama and Medvedev signed the treaty on April 8, committing their nations to major nuclear arms cuts and boosting Obama's drive for a world without atomic weapons.YURI KADOBNOV
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Cars are seen flipped over after a bridge collapsed in Santiago due to a huge 8.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked Chile early killing at least 78 people, on February 27, 2010. The massive quake plunged much of the Chilean capital, Santiago, into darkness as it snapped power lines and severed communications, and AFP journalists spoke of walls and masonry collapsing. People in pyjamas fled onto the streets.MARTIN BERNETTI
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Dubai's Burj Khalifa tower, the world's tallest skyscraper, is lit by laser lights during its opening ceremony in the Gulf emirate on January 4, 2010. Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, officially opened the world's tallest building, which stands at 828 metres high.KARIM SAHIB
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 A man throws a dead body at the morgue of the general hospital, January 15, 2010 at Port Au Prince following the 7.0-magnitude quake on January 12. More than 50,000 people were killed and 250,000 injured by this week's earthquake, which also left nearly 1.5 million homeless, a Haitian minister said. After three days of Haitians being left to fend mostly for themselves in one of the world's poorest countries.OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Georgian luge hopeful Nodar Kumaritashvili crashes during the men's Luge practise at the Whistler Sliding Centre, in preparation for the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12, 2010. Muaritashvili suffered a horror crash after flying off the Olympic track during his second of two training runs, reports said. He was immediately placed on a stretcher before he was taken away in an ambulance while an air ambulance was also on its way, the Globe and Mail said.Peter PARKS
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 A woman who lost her children to the sectarian violence rolls on the road during a womens march on March 11, 2010 to protest the killing of their counterparts and children by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Jos. Thousands of women marched through the streets of Jos in black to the state House of Assembly and later to the government house to protest the killings of women and children at Dogo Nahawa village in Nigeria's south Jos, Plateau State. Some marchers carried branches of mango trees that they said were a symbol of solidarity. The women also demanded the military leave the area, accusing it of failing to prevent Sunday's slaughter, blamed on a Muslim clan, in three villages near the city.PIUS UTOMI EKPEI
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Rajasthani musicians from the Indian group The Manganiyar Seduction perform during the opening night of the 34th Sydney Festival on January 9, 2010. Over one million Sydneysiders are expected to watch 1,300 artists from across the country and around the world perform in 81 different events scattered across 27 venues until January 30.Torsten BLACKWOOD
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrive for a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on March 30, 2010.Saul LOEB
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Two-year-old Dhoal, a child suffering from severe malnutrition, is swarmed with flies as he cries on a bed at a local hospital in the southeast Sudanese town of Akobo on April 10, 2010. The population in Akobo and the surrounding counties in the Jonglei state in southern Sudan are suffering from the effects of a devastating drought and tribal conflict. Aid officials have called Akobo the "hungriest place on earth," after a survey showed that 46 percent of children under five are malnourished.ROBERTO SCHMIDT
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Polish nuns pray under a giant cross at Pilsudski Square on April 12, 2010 in a tribute to victims of the air-crash in which President Lech Kaczynski was killed on April 10. Russia united with Poland in mourning President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other victims of a weekend plane crash, as authorities helped grieving Polish relatives identify loved ones.JOE KLAMAR
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Pakistani tribal militia dance to celebrate with soldiers in Damadola in the Bajaur tribal region on March 2, 2010. Pakistan's army said it had captured a key Taliban and Al-Qaeda complex dug into Rocky Mountains close to the Afghan border after killing 75 local and foreign militants. Commanders gave journalists a guided tour of the bastion, which one general said numbered 156 caves developed over five to seven years, and carved into sheer rock within clear view of the snow-capped peaks in eastern Afghanistan.A MAJEED
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 A US Marine from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, guards an Afghan detainee at the entrance of a bunker at a US Marine base in Marjah, Helmand province, on April 7, 2010. A single Afghan man was arrested by US Marines near the site where a roadside bomb blew up early in the morning, with a false Pakistan passport, two different Afghan identification cards, some wires wrapped on a few batteries, an old rifle and pamphlets of Taliban activities in Marjah.MAURICIO LIMA
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 A Kyrgyz opposition throws a projectile at riot police during an anti-government protest in Bishkek on April 7, 2010. Opposition followers killed Kyrgyzstan's interior minister, took the deputy prime minister hostage and captured state television in a deadly revolt against President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. A source in the office of Interior Minister Moldomus Kongantiyev revealed that he had been killed in riots in the northwest hub of Talas where the first protests had erupted.VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tours an exhibition on laser technology in Tehran on February 7, 2010. Ahmadinejad ordered Iran's atomic chief to enrich uranium to 20 percent, in a fresh challenge to world powers days after appearing to accept a UN-drafted nuclear fuel deal.ATTA KENARE
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Hindu devotees rest after celebrating Holi at the Bankey Bihari Temple in Vrindavan on March 1, 2010. Holi, also called the Festival of Colours, is a popular Hindu spring festival observed in India at the end of winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month, which usually falls in the later part of February or in March.PEDRO UGARTE
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Riot police detain a demonstrator during a protest in Athens on March 5, 2010. Greece has frozen pensions and raised a string of taxes to cut spending by 4.8 billion euros in a frantic bid to persuade its EU partners and the markets that it can dodge bankruptcy.Angelos Tzortzinis
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Haitians pass destroyed buildings on January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Planeloads of rescuers and relief supplies headed to Haiti as governments and aid agencies launched a massive relief operation after a powerful earthquake that may have killed thousands. US President Barack Obama ordered a swift and aggressive US rescue effort, while the European Union activated its crisis systems and the Red Cross and United Nations unlocked emergency funds and supplies for the destitute nation. Much of Port-au-Prince was reduced to rubble by the 7.0-strong quake on January 12 but the airport was operational, opening the way for international relief aid to be ferried in by air as well as by sea.Thony BELIZAIRE
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 A man makes his way amidst lifeless bodies outside the morgue in Port-au-Prince on January 14, 2010, following a devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti on January 12. Desperate Haitians awaited a global effort to find and treat survivors from the quake that left streets strewn with corpses and a death toll that may top 100,000. Hundreds of thousands of homeless, injured and traumatized victims spent a second night on the streets and sidewalks, transforming Port-au-Prince into a gigantic and under-equipped refugee camp.Juan Barreto
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 Ukrainian IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko (R) lands a right on US challenger Eddie Chambers during their heavyweight world championship boxing fight on March 20, 2010 in Duesseldorf, western Germany.CLEMENS BILAN
/ AFP/Getty Images

AFP PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2010 A street vendor tries to keep the crowd from stealing her goods in Port-au-Prince on January 24, 2010. Police in the Haitian capital counted their losses and gathered their forces today, preparing for a surge in crime they are certain will follow the devastating January 12 earthquake.ROBERTO SCHMIDT
/ AFP/Getty Images

The annual 10-day event attracts thousands of people — riders and fans — to the mountain resort

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